Ryersonia yearbook sales slump

If you were hoping to see your graduating picture in a 1999 yearbook you’re out of luck. After extremely poor sales last year, RyeSAC has decided not to publish a yearbook this year.

“We are a little disappointed,” said RyeSAC’s president David Steele. Ryerson published a Ryersonia yearbook in 1998 to mark the university’s 50th anniversary, after not publishing one since 1987.

Of the 1,400 yearbooks printed, only 500 have sold since the advances sales began in the summer of 1997. RyeSAC has lost $10,000 on the yearbook.

In an effort to clear out remaining copies, RyeSAC’s used bookstore is offering reduced prices until the end of this week. Anyone who buys $50 or more in used books will get a free yearbook. Spend between $20 and $49 and get a yearbook for $10.

When the yearbook was first put on sale in the summer of 1997 it was priced at $20; at convocation it sold for $40.

“We decided it was better to sell these books at a lower price than have them sit in a closet gathering dust,” Steele said.

He said RyeSAC would have published a 1999 edition if there was more student interest. Efforts to market the Ryersonia included ads in university publications, a direct mail campaign and Internet sales, and selling them from tables at school.

Under its embossed hardcover, the 1998 yearbook has photos of graduates, university organizations and sports teams. The yearbook has no advertising because it was published to commemorate Ryerson’s 50th anniversary.

Michael Durrant, RyeSAC’s communications and services manager, said funding for the yearbook came from RyeSAC and the Ryerson Centre, an organization that invests money in capital projects at Ryerson.

Durrant said part of the difficulties in selling the Ryersonia is the lack of yearbook history. While Ryerson printed a yearbook in 1987, it had not done so on a yearly basis since 1969.